On Saturday, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame defeated the
Temple Owls in the 2013 season opener by a score of 28-6. In my game preview, I
picked the Irish to win 37-6, so this outcome was about what I expected.
To my surprise, the Irish got off to an extremely fast start
on offense. Amir Carlisle opened up the game with a 45-yard run down the
sideline, and then Tommy Rees connected with DaVaris Daniels two plays later
for a 32-yard TD to give the Irish an early 7-0 lead. After a Temple
three-and-out, Notre Dame scored again on another three-play drive. Rees hit
T.J. Jones for a 51-yard completion, and then two plays later connected with
Daniels once again for a 32-yard TD.
After opening up a 14-0 lead, it looked like the Irish would
roll to a big blowout, but that was not the case. Temple’s offense started to
move the ball efficiently in the second quarter and even got into the endzone
just before halftime to make the score 14-6. Any visions that Temple had of
winning this ballgame likely vanished when Rees hooked up with Troy Niklas for
a 66-yard TD on the first play after the Temple score. With five big plays and
three long touchdowns, the Irish went to the locker room with a comfortable
21-6 lead. George Atkinson III would add a fourth touchdown on a 2-yard run to
push the lead to 28-6. From there, the Irish coasted to an easy season opening
victory.
The Positives:
1. Tommy Rees look very good. Even though it was against a weaker
opponent, Rees answered a ton of questions by throwing for 346 yards and three
touchdowns. He showed great vision, led his receivers, and even threw a few
good deep balls. I only counted one, maybe two bad throws on the afternoon, and
most importantly he didn’t turn the ball over.
2. Balanced running attack. With Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick
gone, many people wondered where the Irish would get production out of their
running game. Brian Kelly answered that question by showcasing multiple backs.
In particular, Amir Carlisle, Cam McDaniel, and George Atkinson III combined
for the bulk of the carries. The trio carried the ball 27 times for 167 yards.
When the game was in-hand, true freshmen Tarean Folston and Greg Bryant
combined for 26 yards on 7 carries.
3. DaVaris Daniels. Yes, it was only one game, and only Temple,
but Daniels looks the part of an elite BCS receiver. Daniels came on strong at
the end of last season before suffering an injury that kept him out of the
final two games. During the BCS Championship, Daniels was one of the few
players that had a good game by netting 115 yards on six catches. He did have a
minor groin pull that kept him out of most of Saturday’s game, but his two
touchdowns prior to the injury proved that last season’s surge was no fluke.
The Negatives:
1. Kicking Miscues. The Irish had issues with both their kicking
and punting on Saturday. Last season’s place kicker, Kyle Brindza, was handed
the team’s punting duties this season. Overall, he wasn’t terrible with a 41.2
yard average on five punts, but he badly missed on two punts that were supposed
to downed inside the 20. Since Brindza was focusing on punting during the
offseason, the Irish turned to Nick Tausch to handle the place kicking duties.
Although he converted all four extra point attempts, he missed horribly on a
40-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter. Brindza was given the other
attempt of 44 yards in the fourth quarter, but he missed as well. The Irish
need to improve in both areas quickly because either one could be the
difference in a close game.
2. Penalties. The Irish committed nine penalties for 63 yards
on Saturday. I understand that this was the first game, but again this is
something that needs to be addressed right away. Notre Dame won’t win many
games versus their tougher opponents if they continue rack up the yellow flags.
3. The Defense was soft. Although Temple only scored six points
on the afternoon, they moved the ball with relative ease at various points of
the game. Part of this may have been by design, and part of it may have been
due to the fact the Irish jumped out to an early lead, but either way the
defense wasn’t overly impressive. Temple had 362 yards of total offense, and a
very surprising 134 yards on the ground. Again, the Irish will have to play
much better defensively if they want to beat some of the tougher teams on their
schedule, starting with Michigan this Saturday.
-Eric Tichelbaut
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